Oh, Pharaoh! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Object
• Game Materials
• Game Preparation
• Building Pyramids
• Game Play
  • 1. Score Pyramids?
  • 2. Draw a Card
  • 3. Player Actions
  • 4. Draw Card or Discard Cards in Hand
• Game Board Spaces
• Game End

Game Object

The winner is the player who scores the most points for his completed Pyramids.

Game Materials

• 79 Building Stone Cards (Values: 13 x 1 point, 12 x 2 points, 11 x 3 points, 10 x 4 points, 9 x 5 points, 8 x 6 points, 6 x 7 points, 4 x 8 points, 3 x 9 points, 3 Jokers)
• 10 Special Cards (5 Thieves, 2 Tax Collectors, 3 Pharaohs)
• 1 Game End Card
• 1 Game Board
• 1 Score Keeper
• 1 Stealing Die

Game Preparation

• Lay the Game Board out onto the table and place the Score Keeper onto the Start Space (marked with an arrow).
• Place the Game End Card next to the last space on the Game Board (marked with a Pharaoh).
• Shuffle the Building Stone and Special Cards together and deal 7 cards face down to each player. Each player takes his cards into his hand.
• Place the remaining cards in a face-down pile onto the table to serve as a Draw Pile. Reveal three cards from the Draw Pile and place them face up next to it. Important: There should not be any duplicate cards laid out. If this should occur, immediately place one of the duplicate cards onto the Discard Pile and draw another card to take its place.
• Paper and pencil are required to record scores.
• The youngest player starts the game. Play continues in a clockwise direction.

Build the game area up as shown:

(Diagram: Space for discard pile, Draw Pile, and the three face-up cards next to it. The Game Board shows the Special Spaces, the Score Keeper Start Space, the Game End Card, and the End Space.)

Building Pyramids

• A Pyramid must consist of at least three Building Stones and of at least two levels – one directly above the other.
• Each Pyramid level must have at least one fewer card than the level immediately below it.
• All Building Stones in a level must be of the same value.
• The values of each level's Building Stones must be exactly 1 higher than the values of the level immediately below it. This results in a continuous, uninterrupted series of values from the bottom to the top.

Legal Pyramids: (diagram) four examples are shown: a 3 over two 2s; a 5 5 over 4 4 4 over 3 3 3 3; a 3 over 2 2 2; and 6 6 over 5 5 5.

Illegal Pyramids: (diagram) two examples are shown: 3 3 over 2 2 over 1 1 1 1; and a single 7 over 5 5.

Game Play

During a player's turn, he carries out actions 1 through 4 in sequence (note that the individual parts of action 3 may be performed in any order the player prefers):

1. Score Pyramid?
2. Draw a Card – one of the three face-up cards or the top card of the Draw Pile
3. Player Actions
   • Dealing and Exchanging
   • Build Pyramid or Enlarge Existing Pyramid
   • Play Thieves or Tax Collectors
4. Draw Cards or Discard Cards in Hand

1. Score Pyramids?

At the start of a player's turn, he must decide whether or not he wishes to score any of his existing Pyramids.

Note: If, later in the game, a player has two Pyramids (see Game Board Spaces), he may choose to score one, both, or none of them.

Should he choose to score, he adds up the values of one Building Stone Card from each Pyramid level and multiplies the total by the number of levels in the Pyramid.

Example: (diagram) A two-level Pyramid of a 6 over 5 5 and a three-level Pyramid of 5 5 over 4 4 4 over 3 3 3 3, with one card from each level outlined.

• (6 + 5) x 2 = 22 Points
• (5 + 4 + 3) x 3 = 36 Points

These points are immediately recorded. All cards that made up the scored Pyramid(s) are placed onto the Discard Pile. After scoring, the player must move the Score Keeper one space forward on the Game Board for each Pyramid scored (see "Game Board Spaces").

Important: If, at the beginning of a player's turn, he owns a Pyramid that consists of at least 12 cards, then it must be scored.

2. Draw a Card

The active player must draw one card and put it into his hand. It can be one of the three face-up cards on the table or the top card from the Draw Pile.

If one of the face-up cards is chosen, then the top card in the Draw Pile is immediately revealed and placed onto the table. If the replacement card is a duplicate of one that is already on the table, then it is discarded and another card is drawn. The three cards on the table must always be different.

3. Player Actions

Bargaining and Exchanging

Only the active player may deal with his opponents and trade cards in his hand. It is not required that the same number of cards be traded – it is permitted to exchange 2 cards for 1, for example. All cards including Building Stones, Jokers and Special Cards may be exchanged.

Build or Enlarge Pyramids

The active player may now build a new Pyramid using at least 3 cards (see Building Pyramids). If the player already has a Pyramid laid out, then he may enlarge it. Players may add levels either to the top or to the bottom of the existing Pyramid. Note that all building rules must still be observed.

Note: At the start of the game, each player may only build or enlarge a single Pyramid. Later on, players are permitted to have two Pyramids (see "Game Board Spaces").

Joker Cards: When building, a player may use as many Joker Cards as he wishes. They are used in place of regular Building Stone Cards. If a player has the matching Building Stone Card that a Joker is being used for, then he may, on his turn, exchange his card for the Joker. The Joker can be part of his Pyramid or part of one of his opponent's. He may either keep the Joker in hand for later or add it immediately to one of his Pyramids. A player may claim multiple Jokers in a single turn, provided that he has the right Building Stone Cards.

Important: Players may not freely take Building Stones that they have played into their Pyramids back into their hands.

Play Thieves or Tax Collectors

The player may play as many Thieves or Tax Collectors as he wishes against his opponents.

Thief Card: When a player plays a Thief Card, he indicates which of his opponents' Pyramids he would like to steal a card from (can be a Joker). In order to be successful, he must roll an amount on the Stealing Die that is greater than, or equal to, the number of levels that the target Pyramid has. Example: The target Pyramid has 4 levels. For the theft to be successful, the player must roll at least a 4.

Incomplete Pyramids: If, after a successful theft, a Pyramid is incomplete, then its owner must take the Building Stones that make up the Pyramid back into his hand. However, he may leave some of the cards on the table, provided that they can be recombined into a complete Pyramid. In that case, the player must only take the remaining cards back into his hand.

Examples: (diagrams) The Thief has stolen a 6, resulting in an incomplete Pyramid. The unlucky Pyramid owner may now either take the six remaining cards back into his hand or leave the two 5s and a 6 (which can be combined to make a new complete Pyramid) behind and only take the remaining three cards back into his hand. If the Thief had stolen a 5 instead, then the Pyramid would still have been complete and its owner would not have had to take any cards back.

Editor's note (not in the printed rulebook): the card counts in this example do not match its diagram, which shows a 7 over a 6 over four 5s (six cards in total). After a 6 is stolen, five cards remain, not six. The printed text is transcribed as-is above.

Tax Collector Card: When a player plays a Tax Collector Card, he may take one card at random from each of his opponents' hands.

Note: Stolen and taxed cards may be either used immediately or kept in hand for later use.

Pharaoh Card: A Pharaoh Card is the only card that can be played during another player's turn. It is used to protect oneself against Thieves and Tax Collectors. When played against a Thief, the Pharaoh must be played before the thieving player has rolled the Stealing Die. Both the Thief and Pharaoh Cards are immediately placed onto the Discard Pile. When a player uses a Pharaoh to protect himself against a Tax Collector, the taxing player may still take cards from any other players who didn't play a Pharaoh.

All played Thief, Tax Collector and Pharaoh Cards are placed onto the Discard Pile.

4. Draw Card or Discard Cards in Hand

At the end of his turn, a player may discard 1 card. He then draws as many cards from the Draw Pile as required to bring his hand back up to 7 cards. If a player has more than 7 cards in hand, then he must choose and discard as many cards as required to bring his hand back down to 7 cards.

If the Draw Pile is exhausted during the game, then the Discard Pile is shuffled and used as a new Draw Pile.

Game Board Spaces

Whenever a Pyramid is scored, the Score Keeper is moved one space forward on the Game Board.

• Once the Score Keeper reaches the first Special Space, players may, for the rest of the game, have two Pyramids instead of one laid out at the same time. If a player has two Pyramids, then he may choose to score one or both of them.
• Once the Score Keeper reaches the second Special Space, players may, for the rest of the game, only score Pyramids with at least three levels.

Game End

Once the Score Keeper reaches the last space on the Game Board, the End Phase of the game begins. All cards in the Draw and Discard Piles as well as the Game End Card are shuffled together and the game continues as normal. As soon as a player reveals the Game End Card, the game is over – no more actions may be carried out. Any Pyramids of at least three levels are still scored. The winner is the player with the most points.